The present invention relates generally to disc drive components, and more particularly but not by limitation to providing component features that have narrow widths.
In the manufacture of a disc drive, write transducers are usually deposited in multiple layers on a trailing edge of a slider using thin film techniques. For many of the layers, thin film lithography is used to define widths of component features.
As illustrated in PRIOR ART FIG. 2, a typical thin film lithographic process 20 begins at step 22 where a layer of radiation-sensitive material, also called positive resist material 24, is deposited on a substrate or layer 26 which is to receive a deposit of metal having a desired shape. At step 28, the positive resist material 24 is exposed to radiation 30 through a mask 32, and then the positive resist material 24 is baked. The radiation 31 that passes through an opening in the mask 32 and the baking process alter the chemical properties of the positive resist material in an exposed region 34. The radiation 31 transfers the opening pattern in the mask to the positive resist material 24. Next, at step 36, the positive resist 24 is developed in a solvent that washes away the altered positive resist in the exposed region 34, leaving a slit 38 in the positive resist 24 with a shape defined by the mask 32. Next, at step 42, an electroplated feature 44 is electroplated in the slit 38. The shape of the electroplated feature 44 is defined by the shape of the slit 38 that is, in turn defined by the shape of an opening in mask 32. After formation of the feature 44, which is typically a pole tip, the remaining positive resist 24 is stripped, leaving the desired feature 44 deposited on layer 26 as shown at step 45.
As illustrated at inset illustration 46, the feature 44 is an integral narrow central portion of a larger xe2x80x9cdog bonexe2x80x9d shaped thin film deposit 48. The feature 44 is later lapped along a line 50 to form a write pole tip.
It is known by those skilled in the art that the slit 38 can be used, alternatively, to etch a pattern in the underlying layer 26 instead of being used to electroplate a feature. It is also known by those skilled in the art that a negative type resist can be used rather than using a positive resist. With a negative type resist, regions that are exposed to radiation become cross-linked, and the unexposed regions of the negative resist are washed away in step 36 rather than the exposed regions of the resist. Various negative type and positive type resists, electroplating processes and etchants are commercially available to perform various thin film lithographic processes.
There is a desire to use thin film lithographic techniques to define increasingly narrower widths of various disc drive components such as write pole tips. As areal densities of data stored on discs increases to more than one terabit per square inch, there is a need to reduce the width of write pole tips and other features to less than 30 nanometers in order to accommodate this higher areal density. It is found, however, that known thin film lithographic techniques are not able to reliably provide features with widths less than 30 nanometers in a mass production environment.
There is thus a need for providing disc drive components having features such as pole tips and read heads with widths less than 30 nanometers that can be reliably produced in a mass production environment.
Disclosed are components for use in a disc drive that include a component substrate having a substrate surface. A self-assembled image layer comprising an organic monolayer is formed over the substrate surface. The self-assembled image layer includes a self-assembled developed region defining a developed width.
Each component also includes a feature layer that is self-assembled over the self-assembled image layer. The feature layer is joined by a self-assembly bond to the self-assembled developed region in the image layer. The feature layer has a feature width that is limited to the developed width.
These and other features and benefits that characterize embodiments of the present invention will be apparent upon reading the following detailed description and review of the associated drawings.